Deconstructing Contemporary Chinese Art: Selected Critical Writings and Conversations, 2007-2014 PDF
Preview Deconstructing Contemporary Chinese Art: Selected Critical Writings and Conversations, 2007-2014
Chinese Contemporary Art Series Paul Gladston Deconstructing Contemporary Chinese Art Selected Critical Writings and Conversations, 2007–2014 Chinese Contemporary Art Series Editor-In-Chief Dr. Chunchen WANG China Academy of Fine Arts No. 8 Huajiadi Nanjie Street, Wangjing, Chaoyang District Beijing, P.R. China [email protected] Deputy Editors-In-Chief Paul Gladston,Professor, Nottingham University ([email protected]) Wenny Teo, Lecturer, Courtauld Academy of Art ([email protected]) Advisor Board Alexandra Munroe, Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York Britta Erickson, Ph.D., independent curator, Palo Alto Duan Jun, Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Art, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing Eugene Wang, Professor of Asian Art, Harvard University, Boston He Guiyan, Associate Professor, Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, Chongqing John Rajchman, Professor, Art History, Columbia University, New York James Elkins, Professor, Art History, Theory, and Criticism, School of the Art Institute of Chicago Katie Hill, Dr., Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London Mian Bu, independent curator, Beijing Melissa Chiu, Director of Hirshhorn Art Museum, Washington DC Michael Rush, Director of Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing Paul Gladston, Professor, Director of the Centre for Contemporary East-Asian Cultural Studies, The University of Nottingham Sheng Wei, Dr., Deputy Editor of Art Magazine, Beijing ThomasJ.Berghuis,Dr.,CuratorofChineseArt,SolomonR.GuggenheimMuseum,NewYork Voon Pow Bartlett, Dr., Project Manager, Tate Research Centre: Asia-Pacific, London WennyTeo,Dr.,LecturerinModernandContemporaryAsianArt,TheCourtauldInstituteof Art, London Yi Ying, Professor, Art Historian, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing Yin Shuangxi, Professor in Contemporary Art, Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing YuYang,AssociateProfessorinModernChineseArt,CentralAcademyofFineArts,Beijing Zheng Shengtian, Editor-in-Chief of Yi Shu magazine, Vancouver ThisseriesfocusesonwhatishappeningtoChineseartinthecourseofrecentdecades.Since Chinahaschangedgreatly,itisnowacuriosityandaresearchtask:Whatisthat?Whyisthat? How can it be that? Culturally, why does Chinese art have its own special image narrative? How to evaluate and criticize Chinese art made today? Is it a continuation of its history and heritage?Isanythingnewthatcouldbereconsideredfurther?IsChineseartanartisticissueor a political one? This series of books will concentrate on such questions and issues and will invite international writers and scholars to contribute their thoughts on the explanation and elaboration of Chinese art today. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13527 Paul Gladston Deconstructing Contemporary Chinese Art Selected Critical Writings and Conversations, – 2007 2014 123 PaulGladston TheUniversity of Nottingham Nottingham UK ISSN 2199-9058 ISSN 2199-9066 (electronic) ChineseContemporary ArtSeries ISBN978-3-662-46487-8 ISBN978-3-662-46488-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-662-46488-5 LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2015945144 SpringerHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon ©Springer-VerlagBerlinHeidelberg2016 Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartofthematerialis concerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,broadcasting,reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodologynowknownorhereafterdeveloped. Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublicationdoesnot imply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevantprotectivelawsand regulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse. Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbookarebelieved tobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsortheeditorsgiveawarranty, expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforanyerrorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeen made. Printedonacid-freepaper Springer-VerlagGmbHBerlinHeidelbergispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia(www.springer.com) For my mother and father “ ” Preface to Chinese Contemporary Art Series The world’s present interest in and focus on China is related to the great changes that have takenplaceinChinaoverthelast30years.Thealterationsinmanyphenomenaactuallyallow ustoobservethechangesinChina.Historically,transformationofaclosedlocalizedareadoes not immediately and directly evoke a chain reaction in neighboring areas. Today, however, that is not the case, especially for a country like China that has the largest population in the world, that at present has a huge manufacturing capacity and capability, that consumes vast amountsofnaturalresources,andthatexhibitsanunprecedentedenvironmentalimpact.When these kinds of changes occur in China, the world cannot but feel their existence and impact. Thisisanecessaryresultoftoday’sglobalizationandaphenomenonthatcannotbeavoided as the world enters into the true meaning of the term “global village.” It does not matter whetheroneopposesglobalization,favorslocalizedculturaldiversity,orfavorsakindof‘you arewithinmeandIamwithinyou’conceptoftenreferredtobytheneologism“glocalization.” Because of its historical transformation, China is per force a focus for the whole world and, moreover, is a top priority focus. Today, there are more and more research studies produced aboutChina,whileinstitutionsestablishedtoundertakeresearchonChinaarebecomingmore prevalentinthe world. Thisisboth thecontinuation oftraditional “Chinese studies” andalso at the same time the start of a new world wide proposition: as a country that maintains its historicalcontinuity,asacountrythathasenduredmorethanacenturyofchaosafterwhichit weakenedanddeclined,canChinatrulybecomeamodernstateofsignificanceanddemocracy to the world? This has become both an historical challenge and a practical issue. ViewingthematterfromChinainternally,theChinesealsohaveahistoricalcuriosityover the events that have occurred, and they are eager to know what after all is the significance of these transformations. Although they are directly involved in their own desire for more answers,theyknowthattheseanswerswillnotbeobtainedintheshortterm.Inthefieldofart, thestoriesthatappearandemergehaveresearchvalueandrequirestudybecausetheyarethe results and visual symptoms of this historical transformation. The hope in editing and pre- senting this collection of writings is that, by means of publication, these literary works will observe,record,andreflectChina’scontemporaryartstoriesandtheirsignificance.Publication will allow these articles and essays to reveal the development of art during a time of special temporal and spatial conditions. The searches for relevant scholarship reveal much historical baggageandanentangledhistory.Mostofall,theyprovideahistoryofvisualmovementsthat requires special recognition and that represents the struggle and rebirth of art during a time when history was remade. As the embodimentof spiritual expression and real existence, China’s contemporary art is rife with contradictions and strivings. Overall, however, contemporary art in China is quite different from that ofanyother historical period.It transmits theeffects ofthepropagation of foreign concepts and values. China’s artists, as the inhabitants of the piece of earth called China, have an unprecedented variety of experiences. Chinese discussions and arguments about art, in both the modern and contemporary periods, have differed entirely from the dialogues and debates in other countries but, nonetheless, still show the impact of the times. Some of these arguments are about large topics such as a comparison of the west and China, vii viii Prefaceto“ChineseContemporaryArtSeries” culturalidentity,andmodernity,whilesomeareaboutsmalltopicssuchasstylesoflanguage, image generation, and even whether traditional brush and ink painting always reflects the psychologyofanationalculture.Infact,manyoftheseissuesaretemporary,andmanymore are pseudo issues. Some of these issues are of a profound nature, while some are issues involving rediscovery and recreation that inspire new cultural and artistic entities. No matter what, themainproblemofart inChinatoday isthat ofputtingartinto practice. Ifthere isno large quantity of creative art that is put into practice, then academic research could become specious. If art is not advanced uninterruptedly, it is difficult to continue with research that shows promising results. This series focuses on what happens to Chinese art at present and include monologues, study on art history, case study, movements, critical discourses, and so on. This after all is work for the long term. By means of the publication of this work, we hope to build a worldwide research network on contemporary Chinese art, to pass on China’s research and tradition of “Chinese studies”, and to fuse together China’s inquiries with those of interested audiences throughout the world. Acknowledgments IwouldliketothankWangChunchenforhiskindinvitationtopublishthiscollectionandthe people at Springer who made it possible. I would also like to thank everyone—and in par- ticular the artists—who assisted my research into and writing on contemporary Chinese art. Thanks are also due to the various editors and publishers who have given my writing on contemporary Chinese art a public platform. ix Contents Part I Essays 1 Somewhere (and Nowhere) Between Modernity and Tradition . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1 Towards a Critique of International and Indigenous Perspectives on the Significance of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . 3 1.2 Tradition, Modernity and the Development of Modern Art in China . . . . 4 1.3 Contemporary Art in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.4 Indigenous Debates on the International Reception of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 1.5 The Political Recuperation of Contemporary Chinese Art. . . . . . . . . . . . 11 1.6 Towards a Multi-voiced Critique. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1.7 Indigenous Chinese Art Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 1.8 International Art Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 1.9 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 2 International Curatorial Practice and the Problematic De-Territorialization of the ‘Identity’ Show . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 2.2 The Politics of Identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 2.3 The Politics of Identity and International Curatorial Practice. . . . . . . . . . 20 2.4 Deconstructing the Third Guangzhou Triennial, Farewell to Post-Colonialism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.5 Beyond the Abstractions of Institutionalized Post-Colonialism . . . . . . . . 28 3 Qianwei (‘Avant-Garde’) Art in Reform-Era China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 3.2 Contemporary Chinese Art—Differing Discursive Perspectives. . . . . . . . 31 3.3 The Western(ized) Avant-Gardes and Post-avant-Gardes . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 3.4 Qianwei (/‘Avant-Garde’) Art in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 3.5 Qianwei Art and the Persistence of (Subjective) Realism. . . . . . . . . . . . 39 4 Deconstructing Gao Minglu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.1 Critical Reflections on Contemporaneity and Associated Exceptionalist Readings of Contemporary Chinese Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 4.2 Contemporaneity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 4.3 Gao Minglu—‘Total Modernity in Chinese Contemporary Art’. . . . . . . . 46 4.4 Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 5 Cultural Translation and Post hoc Intellectual Conceit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 xi
The list of books you might like
